When books "self-destruct"

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I love reading.

It's literally my favorite thing to do and a hobby I always feel guilty about neglecting.

However, one thing I've noticed is that there's a common thread shared by about 99% of my bookshelf: most of those books tend to severely undermine themselves toward the end (sometimes in the very last pages!), for reasons I'll soon get into — a phenomenon I have since christened "self-destruction."

And what's this "self-destruction"? It's this very annoying thing most authors do when it comes to wrapping up their stories, which consists of going against what had been exquisitely (and painstakingly) built over hundreds of pages, usually in the form of manufacturing a very awkward and tacked-on happy ending, the unearned redemption of an extremely flawed character (usually the main one), or a deus ex machina that turns the tables in their favor, even though they were shown to be perfectly capable of dealing with whatever problem stood in front of them beforehand.

Seriously, it's amazing how many authors are afraid of ending a story on a sour note or allowing the main character to become either the villain or irredeemable.

Out of all the books I have read so far, only about five had authors brave enough to show imperfect, bratty, selfish, or simply unchanged characters by the end. Which isn't to say that growth hadn't taken place, only that whatever timeline the story operated on wasn't enough to change them to their very core. And those are the stories I keep returning to because their authors understood that change happens over time and miracles are in short supply.

It's not that I want characters to be sad, only for them to arrive at good conclusions using the tools they were shown to already possess.

I always hate it when unearned endings parachute into stories I had been loving.

 

[Majora Fi]

Who would have thought that film industry isn't the only one in decline?

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

I don't know that you liked reading.
Wait, are you on the writers guild so i may expected that

 

[A man on a computer]

Sometimes, and I mean SOMETIMES... I like stories that just "end" no epilogue, no resolution... The story just stops. That way you don't get any crappy cliffhangers or happy/sappy endings. Just like real life, alot've things don't simply get resolved.
Uh.... On second thought I don't really know what I want from a story. I guess I just want it to be satisfying without being dumb or thoughtless.

 

[random0nonsense]

I know exactly what you mean and have a very specific example. David Eddings's last fantasy series written before his death, The Dreamers, was a four volume series that was adequate - clearly not his best work, but not terrible by any means - until the final chapters. I don't want to go into details in case someone wants to actually read the series, but essentially at the very end one character develops god-like powers and negates everything that happened over the course of the four books.

A conclusion like that doesn't just suck, it makes you question why you even wasted your time and money on this.